David Seymour getting a haircut at Rodney Wayne in New Market, Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Regulations for hairdressers are being trimmed, with announced changes welcomed by customers, but raising hairs with industry.
A review by the Ministries for Regulation and Health examined the rules governing the industry and whether any of them are unnecessary or creating problems for businesses.
They included rules prohibiting dogs from barber shops - other than guide-dogs - and a ban on refreshments for people getting their hair done.
Regulations Minister David Seymour said he was making cuts to "pointless bureaucracy".
"We are taking a serious trim to the amount of pointless bureaucracy, really shaving it back to the scalp where it's no longer needed because it's critical that people up and down this country who run small businesses can spend more time doing what they want to do and spend less time complying with pointless rules and regulations," he said
Cabinet has agreed to all of the review's recommendations, with changes coming to affect from July, though modifications to the sale and supply of alcohol would need to go through legislation.
Seymour hoped to convince his coalition partners to progress the changes before the end of the year.
"Just as you can give someone a sample at a wine cellar door without having to go through the rigmarole of licensing, I think you should be able to do that for a long suffering customer at a barber or hairdresser," he said.
"And, you know what, if you don't want to do it you don't have to, that's how a free society works."
The regulations would be replaced by guidelines for those wanting to follow best practise, and an evaluation would take place in two years time to see if the changes are working.
It was expected to save about a million dollars a year.
Getting a hair wash at the same time, Seymour said there was still legislation in place to uphold health and safety standards.
"You've still got an obligation to adhere to that, and that's why we're issuing guidance so that people have an idea of how to discharge their health and safety at work obligations."
Emma Francis Salon owner Emma Axford-Hawkins said she would make changes if it benefited her business.
"If somebody wants to bring in their dog, and it's not going to cause chaos through the salon and interrupt anybody else having a nice, relaxing experience, then it's fine," she said.
"If I can set up a bar in the salon and it will make my business more money, then I'm up for it."
Axford-Hawkins said she was capable of upholding standards herself, without government oversight.
"I feel like we go above and beyond in the salon anyway, cause I want to keep running as a business," she said.
"If I'm not clean, and tidy, and keep things to a certain standard anyway I think my business would suffer immensely."
And locals around Newmarket were also keen to have a drink, or a dog, in the salon.
"I feel like it would make a better connection with the barber, and would lead to less bad haircuts," said one person.
"I'm all for it man, I think we're all adults at this point in life and we deserve to relax and enjoy our things ... if you want to have a beer you should be able to have a beer," said another.
"Not that keen on the dogs, but on the other hand I can put up with them if somebody's got them well controlled," one woman said.
But Hair and Barber NZ's Jess Corbett said their members had mixed feelings about the changes.
"We welcome the fact that they are removing barriers to setting up a salon and being a salon operator, they're removing costs, they're removing unnecessary hoops that we had to jump through that were antiquated and irrelevant," she said.
However, the group was still advocating for regulation for unqualified hairdressers, said Corbett.
"You can be an unqualified hairdresser in New Zealand with no problem.
"That was the area that we were most concerned about, and as an association were really pushing for change, and that obviously hasn't been addressed."
Corbett encouraged customers to use Hair and Barber member salons.
"You know their qualified, you know they know the rules, and they're passionate about keeping industry standard high, so if you're worried about the changes seek out one of those salons and then you can be assured of being safe."
